Saturday, November 24, 2007

About 3 years ago, my grandfather moved out of his house. This was my mom's childhood home. It was tough to see him move out and into a living facility. When we went to his home to help him move, most of his possessions were divided among the family and grandchildren. My grandfather called me personally and asked if I would like his Christmas tree and decorations. For as long as I can remember, my grandfather had a very large beautiful, artificial Christmas tree. As a kid we would go and spend Christmas at his house and I remember thinking it was so big.

Since receiving the tree, Delena and I have put this tree up every year and used my grandmothers decorations to decorate it. It has been nice, in fact our first Christmas we had our first fight over how to put the lights up. It has been a good tree and we hope to continue using it.

On our drive home from Thanksgiving, I mentioned to Delena it would be nice to get a real tree this year. She was very excited. So tonight the Markland family ventured into the cold and picked up a Christmas tree. We used some of my grandmother's old decorations but we have since gathered decorations of our own over the years and were able to add to it. Joseph had a blast pulling the lights off the tree and playing with the needles.

Delena and I have long since learned from our first fight. This time, a we put up the lights, I stood their feeding them to Delena and she put them up. She is better at it anyways. The star on top is the original from my grandfather's tree. We hope to gather more decorations through out the year and our lifetime. It is amazing how much a tree brings the family together.

The tree is now up and the smell is great in the house. I know there is a ton of clean up to deal with and we have to water the dang thing. My hands are covered in sap from trimming the bottom. With it now up, I can't help but look at it enjoy the lights and all the memories it holds and will hold as our family grows.

When I was a kid, my favorite time wasn't just Christmas, but instead the feeling we felt in the air. I remember walking down the streets with my friends, Christmas lights bounced off of the snow and the wet streets. We had fun in those days and lived life as with no cares. Having this tree and it smells, with my family, reminds me of those feelings.

But don't count on me putting Christmas lights on our house, at least not yet.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Last night I was sitting in class and for no reason; I decided to leave class early. I got about 5 minutes away when my phone rang. It was Delena and she was screaming and crying. My first instinct was that she had gotten in an accident. I could hear Joseph screaming in the background and I knew something was wrong. Delena was so upset I could hardly make out what she was saying. Through all the commotion I deciphered that the baby had fallen down the stairs and was potentially hurt. I told Delena to go straight to the emergency room and I was already on my way.

Moments later I arrived at the hospital to find Joseph and Delena waiting to see the doctor. Joseph was laughing and playing, but Delena was really upset. She explained she had taken down the gate to our basement to do some laundry. Joseph was in another room playing. She then went to the bathroom to start Joseph's bath, when she heard him crashing down the stairs. She knew exactly what had happened so she ran to the stairs to find Joseph at the bottom screaming.

The doctor gave him a full check and said he didn't have a bruise on him. In fact he laughed every time the doctor touched his neck or stomach. We felt very lucky he was alright and Joseph is showing no signs of anything. In fact today he was the happiest he has been in all week. I am sure we all go through these moments and it is amazing how resilient our kids are. We have learned our lesson about the gate and how fast this kid can move.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Delena took Joseph to on his first swing set ride. She took this great video and a few pictures of Joseph on the swing set. The video is awesome, you can tell he is not quite sure what is going on but then when the swing goes faster he keeps laughing.

Monday, November 05, 2007

A few hours ago Joseph woke up from a deep sleep screaming and kicking his arms and legs like no other. When you held him he was stiff and we could tell very quickly that he was still asleep but screaming louder than ever. This went on for about 5 minutes before he all of sudden woke up! He was fine and stopped crying. We spent the next hour playing with him and he finally went to sleep.

Our first thought was he was in pain, teething, or even semi-choking (heck I even checked to make sure there was nothing in his throat). We even thought may be he was having some sort of seizure.

In the end we concluded he was having some sort of nightmare, in my Google searching I found this article: